Derrick Rose

Sam Smith

This season marks the 70th year the NBA is playing on Christmas Day, tipping-off with the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the New York Knicks at 11:00 AM (CT) on ESPN. At 2:00 PM (CT) a 2017 NBA Finals rematch takes place with the Cleveland Cavaliers taking on the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on ABC TV, followed by the Washington Wizards at the Boston Celtics at 4:30 PM (CT), also on ABC. The Houston Rockets then head to Oklahoma City to meet reigning league MVP Russell Westbrook the Thunder at 7:00 PM (CT) on ABC, and finally fans can catch the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Los Angeles Lakers at 9:30 PM (CT) over on TNT.

Throughout the team's 52-year history, the Chicago Bulls have played 21 Christmas games, going 13-8 overall (8-1 at home, 5-7 on the road). The first game took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City against the Knicks in the team's inaugural season. The last time the Bulls hit the hardwood on Christmas was just a year ago in San Antonio against the Spurs.

This season will be the Knicks' league-leading 52nd Christmas Day game. In fact New York knocked off the Providence Steamrollers, 89-75, in the very first Christmas game ever played back in 1947. The Lakers are next on the all-time Christmas list with 43 games, followed by Detroit with 32, Boston with 30 with the Cincinnati Royals/KC-Omaha/Sacramento Kings and the Philadelphia 76ers right behind with 29 Christmas appearances apiece. So far only two teams, the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets and the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies, have yet to play on Christmas.

Here are a couple of other interesting NBA/Christmas side notes:

Here's a quick look at each of the Bulls' Christmas Day games over the years:

12/25/2016 – Dwyane Wade shoots a jumper against SAS

2016: San Antonio Spurs 119, Chicago Bulls 100

San Antonio's LaMarcus Aldridge connected on his first nine attempts as the Spurs shot 82% from the field to storm out to a 36-25 lead in the opening quarter. In fact Aldridge actually hit his first 11 shots of the game and finished 15-of-20 from the field to post a season-high 33 points to lead the Spurs to victory. Dwyane Wade led the Bulls with 24 points, including posting 10 points in the final quarter.

12/25/2015 – Jimmy Butler dunks it against OKC

2015: Chicago Bulls 105, Oklahoma City 96

After enduring three straight losses and having to spend Christmas on the road to meet a team that had won nine of its previous 10 games, the Bulls took down the Oklahoma City Thunder, 105-96, in front of a sold-out crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Jimmy Butler led Chicago's attack with 23 points, while teammate Pau Gasol chipped in 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Chicago outrebounded OKC, 53-48 and held the Thunder to just 38.5% shooting. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 29 points, but needed 21 shots to do so.

2014: Chicago Bulls 113, Los Angeles Lakers 93

Facing his old team for the first time after signing with the Bulls as a free agent over the summer, Pau Gasol put up 23 points and snagged 13 rebounds to lead Chicago to a 20-point victory. Lakers great, Kobe Bryant, had to sit out due to various nagging injuries, but former Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer returned to the United Center and scored 14 points off the bench for LA.

12/25/2013 – Taj Gibson drives in against BKN

What had been first viewed as a Christmas Day showdown between two legitimate Eastern Conference contenders at the start of the season ended up being a matchup of a couple of battered and bruised, sub-.500 teams with the Bulls (10-16) and the Brooklyn Nets (9-18) spending Christmas together at the Barclays Center in an early afternoon Holiday matinee.

With Chicago trailing 50-49 early in the third quarter, Bulls forward Jimmy Butler keyed a 21-5 run to give Chicago control of the game. Butler, who had been forced to sit out the previous contest due to a right ankle injury, started things off with a 3-pointer and then added a three-point play a minute later to give the Bulls a 57-52 lead. By the end of the third the Bulls had built a comfortable 19-point lead and were never seriously challenged the rest of the way. Chicago's Taj Gibson came off the bench and led all scorers with 20 points, while Butler finished with 15. Nets point guard Deron Williams led Brooklyn in scoring with 18.

2012: Houston Rockets 120, Chicago Bulls 97

Former Chicago backup center Omer Asik enjoyed his first Christmas as a Houston Rocket by scoring 20 points and snagging 18 rebounds against his old team to lead Houston to a blowout 120-97 road win over the Bulls at the United Center. Guard Nate Robinson came off the bench to lead Chicago with 27 points.

12/25/2011 – Derrick Rose game winner against the LA Lakers

2011: Chicago Bulls 88, Los Angeles Lakers 87

Chicago's Derrick Rose, the reigning league MVP, drove the lane and lofted a smooth floating one-hander for the winning points in the 2011-12 season opener for both the Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day at the Staples Center in LA. Rose's go-ahead shot came with just 4.8 seconds to play, as Chicago rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 3:44 to post for an 88-87 victory. LA's Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 28 points.

2010: New York Knicks 103, Chicago Bulls 95

Playing on Christmas Day for the first time in more than a decade, the Bulls could muster only 12 points in the fourth quarter as the New York Knicks pulled away late to post a 103-95 victory at Madison Square Garden. Free agent pick-up Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 26 points and 19 rebounds but also committed seven turnovers. Derrick Rose added 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Bulls, but like Boozer, he also committed seven turnovers. Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton each scored 20 for the Knicks.

12/25/1997 – Michael Jordan lays it up against MIA

In what would be his final Christmas Day game as a member of the Chicago Bulls, future Hall of Famer Michael Jordan scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to power Chicago to a 10-point victory over the Miami Heat in front of a standing room only crowd of 24,182 fans at the United Center.

1996: Chicago Bulls 95, Detroit Pistons 83

Bulls forward Scottie Pippen exploded for 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to lead Chicago to a 95-83 Christmas night victory over the archrival Detroit Pistons at the United Center. Dennis Rodman, who began his NBA career with Pistons, scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 22 rebounds for the Bulls to help Chicago run its record to an NBA-best 25-3 on the year. All-Star Grant Hill led Detroit's attack with 27 points.

12/25/1994 – Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks

1994: Chicago Bulls 107, New York Knicks 104 (OT)

Chicago's Scottie Pippen never left the court in this Christmas thriller, leading the Bulls to a 107-104 overtime victory over the New York Knicks at the United Center. Pippen played 53 minutes and notched 36 points — including all seven of Chicago's points in overtime — while grabbing 16 rebounds and notching five steals. Chicago's Toni Kukoc played 40 minutes off-the-bench and also contributed 25 points and handed out six assists in the victory. Future Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing led the Knicks with 30 points and 13 rebounds, while former Bulls strongman Charles Oakley added 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for New York.

Bulls backup forward Toni Kukoc nailed the game-winner with only two seconds left to play to give Chicago a 95-93 Christmas night victory over the Orlando Magic inside a loud and boisterous Chicago Stadium. Kukoc's twine-tickler extended Chicago's winning streak to nine games. Scottie Pippen played every minute (48) and led all scorers with 28 points. Windy City native and former Fighting Illini All-American Nick Anderson led the Magic with 24 points, backed up by Shaquille O'Neal with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

12/25/1992 – Michael Jordan takes flight against the New York Knicks

1992: Chicago Bulls 89, New York Knicks 77

The great Michael Jordan put on an incredible National TV Christmas night show in front of a frenzied, sold out Chicago Stadium crowd of 18,676 in posting 42 points to lead the Bulls to an 89-77 victory over the hated Gotham City Knicks. Besides Jordan, Scottie Pippen was the only other Bulls player to notch double-figures in scoring with 16. New York villain John Starks and guard Rolando Blackman led the Knicks with 17 points apiece.

1991: Chicago Bulls 121, Boston Celtics 99

Six Bulls, led by Scottie Pippen's game-high 27, scored in double-figures as Chicago ran away with a 121-99 Christmas victory over the Boston Celtics at the Chicago Stadium. Boston's legendary Larry Bird, in what would be his final Christmas game, was limited to just eight points and eight rebounds.

1990: Chicago Bulls 98, Detroit Pistons 86

Chicago's Michael Jordan led the Bulls to a thrilling 98-86 victory over the defending NBA Champion Detroit Pistons at the Chicago Stadium. Jordan led all scorers with 37 points. Chicago's stifling defense held Detroit's "Bad Boys" to 42.3% shooting while the Bulls connected on 51.9% of their shots.

1986: New York Knicks 86, Chicago Bulls 85

Second-year center Patrick Ewing's buzzer-beater capped a 28-point, 17-rebound outing as the New York Knicks took down the Bulls, 86-85, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Michael Jordan led all scorers with 30 points but shot just 10-of-28 from the field.

12/25/1976 – Wilbur Holland shoots a jumper

1976: Chicago Bulls 96, Kansas City Kings 91

Bulls guard Wilbur Holland led all scorers with 22 points to lead Chicago to a 96-91 upset victory over Kansas City Kings at Kemper Arena in KC. In his first NBA season, 7'2 Bulls center Artis Gilmore, battled foul trouble throughout the contest and was held to just eight points and seven rebounds before fouling out. Strongman Sam Lacey led the Kings with 21 points.

For the first time in franchise history the Bulls spent Christmas in the Arizona desert to take on a scrappy and talented Phoenix Suns squad in front of 10,420 fans at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Chicago quickly jumped to a comfortable 27-20 lead after one quarter and even extended its edge to 57-49 at the half. The two teams went toe-to-toe in the third, with Phoenix cutting its deficit to six heading into the final stanza. Thanks to some blistering shooting from veteran guard Dick Van Arsdale and his backcourt running mate, Charlie Scott, the Suns finally were able to knot the score at 99-99 with 5:12 left. After two more ties, Phoenix went ahead to stay 105-103 on two free throws from Van Arsdale with just 2:45 to go in the game. The Suns went on to post a 115-108 come-from-behind victory as Van Arsdale notched a season-high 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting on top of going 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Bob "Butterbean" Love led Chicago with a team-high 29 points to go along with 14 rebounds.

1971 – Sidney Wicks – Portland Trail Blazers

1971: Chicago Bulls 109, Portland Trail Blazers 88

Chicago had reacquired Norm Van Lier from the Cincinnati Royals at the start of the season to form the first great Bulls team featuring the dynamic duo of Van Lier and Jerry Sloan in the backcourt, Bob Love and Chet Walker manning the forward positions with 7'0 center Tom Boerwinkle manning the middle. The Bulls would go on to win a then-franchise best 57 games, a victory total not exceeded until 1990-91, Chicago's first championship season. On Christmas Day, 1971, the Bulls traveled to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers, thumping the home team to the tune of 109-88. Love led all scorers with 26 points while Walker added 21. Rookie Sidney Wicks led the Blazers with 24 points. Wicks later went on to capture the NBA's Rookie of the Year award.

1970: Baltimore Bullets 128, Chicago Bulls 112

The Bulls were definitely a team on the come, producing not only their first ever winning season but the franchise's first 50-win campaign. At the end of the year Head Coach Dick Motta was tabbed the NBA Coach of the Year while Bob Love and Jerry Sloan were named to the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team.

On Christmas Day in 1970 the Bulls found themselves in Baltimore, Maryland to take on a high-powered Bullets team that had once called the Windy City home during the early 1960s when the franchise was known as the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs. Bob Love was unstoppable and led all scorers with 42 points in the afternoon contest, yet Chicago lost, 128-112. Led by Earl "The Pearl" Monroe's 25 points, the Bullets enjoyed a balanced attack as Eddie Miles (23 points), Jack Marin (22 points) and Wes Unseld (20 points) provided plenty of punch of their own, as Baltimore jumped to a comfortable 33-20 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.

1968: Cincinnati Royals 103, Chicago Bulls 98

In the first of a back-to-back, home-and-home series the Bulls visit the Queen City for Christmas to take on Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Royals at the old Cincinnati Garden Arena. The Royals' Connie Dierking, a 31-year old, 6'9 center from the University of Cincinnati led all scorers with 31 points. Both the Bulls and Cincinnati were physical in this contest, with Jerry Sloan and Dierking fouling out before the final horn. All five Chicago starters posted double figures in scoring, led by Jim Washington's 18 points. However, Chicago's hardnosed defense ended up sending Cincinnati to the charity stripe 48 times, with the Royals connecting on 37. The following day the Bulls were able to turn the tables by defeating Cincinnati 104-96 at the Chicago Stadium.

1966: New York Knicks 133, Chicago Bulls 132

The NBA sent the Bulls to New York City on Christmas Day to take on the Knicks in a National TV game in Chicago's inaugural season. Bulls forward Bob Boozer was on fire from start to finish, shooting 15-of-23 from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line in posting a then-career-high 40 points. However, New York's Walt Bellamy (29 points) and Cazzie Russell (27 points) led a late comeback as the Knicks outscored the Bulls by nine points during the final quarter to escape with a 133-132 victory.

jingle-bulls

Jingle Bulls

Derrick Rose says he doesn’t know how it will be Friday when he returns to the United Center for the first time not playing for the Bulls, for the first time since his shocking trade to the New York Knicks last June, his first game ever against the team he most loved.

“Going back to Chicago, I really don’t know what to expect,” Rose said earlier this week after Knicks practice in New York. “I know it’s going to be love. I know there will be some totally opposite, couple of boos here and there. But, really, I just want to win the game.”

That really is all Rose ever has been about, from the prep school stardom to the unlikely landing with the Bulls, to the comet flash across the NBA horizon to the crash of the serious knee injuries, the community and media ambivalence, the optimism turned to fatalism. Rose in many respects has endured a trial by fire unlike any top athlete who has played in Chicago, as much or more than most anywhere. He went from precocious local hero to wizened outsider, a child who promised such hope to a man who presided over such disappointment.

Rose is gone from Chicago now, making his home in New York, actually talking about it being his summer base instead of Los Angeles, comfortable in his bustling city anonymity, no longer a last hope as much as a recovering piece. But that Rose has endured and survived is because of Chicago, because of the heat in the kiln of adversity that hardened and strengthened him for his journey. He returns to Chicago wearing a Knicks uniform, but made up in the armor that is Chicago.

“I always had that underdog mentality,” says Rose. “No matter where I was at in my career, no matter what I achieved, no matter the accolades and all that, that’s good. But I always had the underdog mentality and going from all those great seasons through the injuries, dealing with the BS from some of the media, it can kind of isolate you a little where it forces you for your circle to get even tighter. I felt my friends and family have gotten closer than we ever have been. Now with my friends we’ll talk about things we never would talk about. Before the injuries we weren’t able to. They knew I was down and I was mad, but I was holding it in. They could see it and sense it, but I wasn’t talking to them about it. I wasn’t communicating to them or anyone about it. I think at the time it hurt our friendship because I feel I’m very independent. I get it from my mom. I always felt I could handle things on my own. They felt I was pushing them aside when I was doing that, but it was far from that. It was me saying, ‘Let me show you I can do this by myself.’”

Because that was life in Chicago, in Englewood, no dad, his mom the dad — “I rarely saw her feminine side,” says Derrick. “There were bills she could not pay and would break down. That’s when I saw, hey, my mom is a woman, I saw her emotions. She had to be the one hard on us. If anything we saw the dad side of her more than the mom side.” Barely able to eat and have decent clothes, a house filled with a dozen or more people at times, some on drugs, Derrick the quiet one shutting it all out, being the man, wanting to show he can survive and survive for his mom.

It’s often what many don’t understand about some of these great athletes. Just because they get paid a lot of money and become famous doesn’t mean the scars of their childhoods are over or forgotten, that the education they received, or didn’t, is somehow changed. You still are a product of your environment as much as your ancestry. Few of us can relate, though many of us condemn.

“It was tough growing up (in South Side Englewood, one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods). It’s why I took school as I did,” says Rose. “I could have done all the work, but at the time we were just trying to survive, me and my mom. My job every day was getting up trying to find ways to hustle; not where I’m selling drugs or anything, but things like shooting dice, shooting jump shots to get a few dollars for my mom. I pumped gas. I was a light skinned kid. My other friends, they all looked rough, so since I was a light skinned kid I’d go up to you and say can I pump your gas. I did that, I shot jump shots for money. Anything to try to take the load off my mom. She’d get a check for $700 or some weeks didn’t even get paid, one time a whole month. She’d get $600 or $700 and after paying the bills would have $100 to spend and for two weeks. And having a kid. How are you supposed to do that?

It’s why we all saw that tender moment in 2011 when Rose signed his contract extension with the Bulls: “I think we can finally say this now, ‘Mom, we finally made it.’

“She’d try to give me money,” recalled Rose. “And I was, ‘No, I’ll get for you.’ To make sure she had something. It was hard. Even with school. I could have done the work, but I had a chance to go to the league out of high school. But then they cut that my sophomore year, so I was trying to hurry up to get to college. They stopped it (to so called one and done) before KD. So I knew I’d have to go a year. Lived in a house with 13 people, sometimes crack heads. You’re seeing stuff you are not supposed to see.

“That’s why when people say things I can handle it,” says Rose. “I’m more hurt for my family because they know who I am and they are the ones in the public. They have to go shopping. I don’t have to do that. I have someone to do that for me, so they have to hear; they’re the ones who have to experience (the barbs). So they’re the ones worrying when I’m cool. They’re getting hurt more hearing, watching everything. I’m a dad now. I have responsibilities. I have someone watching everything I do, so I want to show him. You are going to go through stuff, you will hear things, people will do things, (but I’ll tell him), ‘You can’t let it sidetrack you from the destination where you want to get to, your goals.’ I’m setting standards for me and for my family. I don’t have a degree, but when I get done with this I am going to get my degree. My first semester credit is gone. I’m starting all over again, but that’s something I promised my mom so I can hang it over my son’s head so he can do the same thing with his kids or whoever. I want him to have those standards.”

Rose says it’s all because of Chicago and what it made him. There were the tremendous highs with the Bulls, the playoff rise, the MVP, being on the way to what he believed was that championship he promised himself he’d help bring to his boyhood team. And then the injuries, the desolation, the slings and arrows amidst his outrageous misfortune, and then the trade last June. Even with a disappointing and mostly dispirited season, Rose said he was surprised. Saddened more.

“Not winning a championship is really the only thing that stands out,” he says. “Being traded. I never thought I’d be traded. I was very surprised even with everything that happened. B.J. (Armstrong) called and he told me it’s a chance. I was emotional. I didn’t tell my mom. People were calling, coach Cal, my brothers, friends, seeing how I was doing. At first I was emotional. It was sad, devastating at first. But after awhile I thought about how strong my faith is. I knew it’s nothing He would put on my plate I can’t handle, so I took it as a blessing.

“Even though you heard talks, I was thinking no matter what happens at least I have one more year with the Bulls,” said Rose, now with that slice of beard, that mass of experience. “It was damn, but it motivated me and made me go harder in my workouts. It was sad because I also thought about my son. How would I see him? I thought about him, the fans, the city, the Bulls. I had so many visions of winning a championship there.

“The city meant everything,” said Rose. “They’re the reason I played the way I played. I wanted to show them that every year I worked on my game. In the offseason, I worked on things to see if people saw what I worked on, adding a jump shot, a bank shot, see if the fans can see; ‘Can you see I’m working hard?’ They saw me ever since I was in sixth grade, a guy who had natural raw talent, figured out how to score on a consistent basis, improved his jump shot, watched my turnovers and still working on that, being more efficient with the amount of dribbles before a shot, little things like that. The city pushes you and forces you to work on your game. I don’t care who you are. If you are in Chicago and play for a professional sports team and if you have greatness in you the city is going to pull it out of you one way or the other; they’re going to force you to work on your game or if you have a tiny bit of greatness they are going to get it out of you in Chicago because it’s the culture. I’d look at tapes of Walter Payton and you could tell he had that itch. Once you come there you get that itch of every day work on becoming great, the culture and history there; the fans have a lot to do with that because of the support. I hope the people in New York can see.”

It’s The Injury, though, the devastating ACL late in the first game of the playoffs in 2012 that changed everything, for Rose, for the Bulls. Both have basically been trying to recover since.

“Having the injury so young and not even being in my prime, just in my (fourth) year and going through the injuries I wanted to rush everything,” Rose recalls. “I wanted revenge. I wanted to prove everybody wrong. The reality was I needed time to myself to think about things, to decompress, and that’s what I felt like I did this summer. I’m still working on my rhythm from (the knee injuries). Your whole life you are used to this one/two rhythm, how you shoot, how you move and then you go from that to learning how to walk again, how to accelerate again. Then you learn that and you have another knee injury and you have to learn that one/two again, your rhythm again, then you have another knee injury. So it’s the whole time working my butt off to get that same rhythm back and trying to be efficient and get better.

“The ACL, that was my first big injury. All I was thinking of was I never had surgery. I was down,” admits Rose. “I felt like I didn’t want to do the rehab. I saw players doing the rehab from being around the gym, working out seeing what they had to go through, and I always said to myself I never want to be in that position, learning how to walk, learning how to bend your leg over again, the process of walking again. I never wanted to go through that. But then I was in that position, so that’s when I was down the most.”

Then came the fits and starts, the explanations and not, the optimism turned to despair and then denunciation. Eventually it was just too much fatigue for everyone.

“I never took it personal,” insists Rose. “I always knew it was part of the sport, part of the business. I felt like they made me a better man being there and going through everything I went through. Although it was out of my control and I did it on the court--it wasn’t like I was doing something off the court crazy--I did it while I was working. It wasn’t any hard feelings, isn’t and never will be. Did I have days I felt sad? Yeah. But I never blamed anyone for it. I always put it on myself.

“I remember my rookie year, everything, I remember everything with the team, the franchise,” say Rose. “It will all be a part of the player I want to become one day. When you look back at my history, my resume, it’s going to be ‘Oh, I see why he achieved what he achieved.’ Look at the beginning at what he had to go through; he had to be a strong individual to get there. I think it’s going to be a part of my story. I’m thinking about when I’m younger I used to always have visions of getting drafted, winning awards. They don’t play out the way I actually wanted to play out, but the end result is basically the same. I still see myself winning championships, but I just don’t know when.

“The question should be, ‘Can I hoop?’ It shouldn’t be ‘Oh, he can’t do this going left.’ Can I hoop? I have to facilitate the game and pick and choose my spots now, especially playing with the great talents I have on my team. I feel like I’m in college again, the nervousness I get, learning a new offense, learning new players, trying to figure out our identity like I had to go through in college.

“Me scoring 30 points or trying to force myself to score 30 points on this team would be easily noticed. It would be like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Rose said. “’You coming down and shooting some of the shots I shot with a team like this? It would be, ‘What are you doing?’ That’s why I’m being so patient, feeling myself out and toward the end and when the chemistry gets better I’ll find a way to get my shots in and play my game.”

Rose knows he’s not home anymore, though he’s happy he can go there. New York is different, though comfortable.

“I love the city,” he says, now living downtown from Madison Square Garden “I love the freedom I have. I’m 6-3, I put a hat on and I can go anywhere. The love here is different. It’s ‘Hey D. Rose, what’s up. Good luck in the game.’ And they keep moving. No one’s stopping. It’s like, ‘Go on about your day, I still got to do what I got to do. I see you though.’”

“In Chicago I felt like I was immature sometimes,” Rose admits. “But in this process and coming here I was learning who I wanted to be as a man, what principles I’d live by, my priorities. I organize things different and I want to have everything off my plate so I can focus now solely on just basketball.”

We see you, D. Rose. Thanks for the memories. Enjoy and have a great life.

derrick-rose-on-the-bulls-and-growing-up-in-chicago

Derrick Rose on the Bulls and growing up in Chicago

Tyson Chandler was supposed to represent the Bulls of the 2000s, the presumptive second coming of another great era, though the 2.0 version. Taller and quick, adept and athletic. The Bulls cashed in their post-championship era bounty, the No .1 overall draft pick in 1999, Elton Brand, for the right to draft Chandler and pair him with fellow teenaged seven footer Eddy Curry to form what they hoped and believed could be the foundation of a structure that would overshadow the NBA once again for years to come.

Instead, as we know, it came to encapsulate the misery that befell the franchise for the first years of the new millennium, a historic losing period that both humbled and heartened the franchise to move forward and again over the last seven years to become among the league's elite contenders.

But the Bulls would have to endure the humiliation and hardship first, and unfairly it initially fell upon Chandler, a sensitive kid whose growing pains mirrored that of a franchise attempting to be reborn.

"I didn't have a clue (of what was coming)," said Chandler, who grew into an NBA All-Star, champion Olympian and Defensive Player of the Year and now is in his 15th season with his sixth team. "I was 18 years old, coming in not knowing what to expect from the NBA, the Bulls; just trying to find my way.

"I think what happened, now for me being 15 years in the league, they weren't ready for that at that time," Chandler said in a recent interview. "It wouldn't be too much to ask if it would have been the correct transition. It (drafting straight from high school) was new to the league in general, taking guys that young. The league is now more prepared to help groom young players and help them grow and develop.

"It was a tough growing period, a tough time, also for the organization," said the 7-1 Chandler. "We went through three head coaches and two interims. Three heads coaches and a couple of interims meant there was change in management with Jerry Krause to John Paxson. There was so much going on. Different players every single year. We'd have four new players at a time. I think the organization was trying to find themselves clearly after the Jordan era, the Scottie Pippen era. They were trying to figure it out and I think the worst thing to do was bring two 18-year-olds to the organization and try to figure it out that way."

If anything, the Bulls of that time provided a blueprint for the rest of the NBA for what not to do.

Not that then general manager Jerry Krause's plan was wrong. It wasn't.

While a team built around Brand, Ron Artest, Jamal Crawford, Marcus Fizer and free agents like Ron Mercer and Brad Miller may have eventually been competitive—as the team of 2000-01—it didn't have a high ceiling for success.

Krause's dream had been to rebuild a team from the base through the draft and scouting expertise after inheriting Jordan when he became general manager in 1985. So after the lockout 1998-99 season when Jordan retired and Pippen was accommodated with a sign and trade to Houston and Toni Kukoc was later traded to Philadelphia, Krause accumulated draft picks similar to the model used lately by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Krause decided to cash them in for the 2000 draft, using three firsts and three seconds in what turned out to be an overall weak draft.

"It was a great fan base," said Crawford, who remains a Sixth Man of the Year candidate again with the contending Clippers. "They still gave us great support from the championship years and were patient. It's just that we were so young. There were just too many young guys. Even if we had done what the Lakers are doing now with two young guys it would have been better. You needed some stability, but I will say there were some interesting practices."

Krause hired college coach Tim Floyd with the idea—again, worse in practice than in philosophy like with drafting of Curry and Chandler—that a college coach would relate better to young players. But Floyd came in blinded by the NBA glamour and immediately wanted veterans to compete now instead of grooming kids.

It only made a bad situation worse, and especially for Chandler in trying to grow. Bill Cartwright replaced Floyd, Paxson replaced Krause and then Scott Skiles replaced Cartwright all within about two years as the team would miss the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and in that span have the poorest overall record in NBA history. The victims were players as much as fans.

These days from the crow's nest of his ship that has sailed to an NBA championship when he was with the Dallas Mavericks, Chandler can look back with the wisdom of experience.

"It was pressure," he agrees. "Just because I had expectations for myself as well. The biggest thing was trying to come in and find my way and try to help turn the franchise around. I'd won my entire life to that point and just wanted to win. I didn't understand how the league was. I wasn't expecting to walk into what I walked into, to be honest.

"It was so tough," Chandler recalls. "I remember where I just felt like I was going to have a breakdown. I'd go home crying. We lost, I can't remember how many games, my rookie year (61, which was better than that previous two). I remember in Orlando, I was so angry and frustrated and not playing much at that time and I had tears in my eyes and it was frustration and I remember Tim Floyd said ‘What's wrong with you?' I was like, ‘I'm sick of losing, I hate this.' He goes, ‘Kid, you have a long way to go.' We broke the huddle, but I'll never learn to get used to the losing stuff. It was part of my personality not to accept losing like that.

"I had a lot of those moments," Tyson reveals. "Eventually, the team started to get better. But at the same time, for me, it felt like my place there started to be in question, whether I would be a part of the future and I ended up being traded. I felt like I had a lot of talent and a lot of ability to really produce and affect the game, which ended up happening once I left."

Chandler was traded by the Bulls after the 2005-06 season for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith, the latter quickly moved on to Denver for second round picks.

The Bulls had begun the turnaround under Skiles with the millennium version of the Baby Bulls with the drafting of Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. The Bulls went on to win 47 games and then were 41-41 and scared eventual champion Miami in a tough six-game playoffs in 2006.

Curry was traded to the Knicks with Antonio Davis for Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney and a first round pick that became the Tyrus Thomas pick when the Bulls swapped the rights to the LaMarcus Aldridge pick. But the Bulls had included a right to swap future picks that enabled the Bulls to draft Joakim Noah. The Knicks selected Wilson Chandler with the pick the Bulls had.

And thus the core was almost in place for what looked like a championship run after the Bulls swept the defending champion Miami Heat in the first round of the 2007 playoffs, but then fell back the following season and Skiles was fired. The Bulls went on to miss the playoffs in 2008, but the shocking consolation was the lottery luck to the No. 1 pick and Derrick Rose.

The Bulls went to the conference finals in 2011 as Rose grew to be the league's MVP and one of the most dynamic players in NBA history. Who knows how far it would have gone as they won the most games in the regular season in 2011-12 for the second straight year under coach Tom Thibodeau. Rose suffered the catastrophic ACL injury in Game 1 of the 2012 playoffs with the Bulls the favorites among many to knock off the Heat and LeBron James. Rose went on to have two more knee surgeries and now is working his way back with a Bulls team fighting to make the playoffs this season.

But there were some brilliant and exciting times even with Rose in and out of the lineup over three years.

Like the Greatest First Round Series Ever Played, the seven overtimes seven gamer between the Bulls and Boston Celtics in 2009. It was Rose's welcome to stardom.

Rose shocked the defending champion Celtics and tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's rookie record for points in a first playoff game. The Bulls with Rose's 36 points beat the Celtics in overtime to turn the series on its head. Tyrus Thomas actually saved the game in overtime after Rose fouled out. Kevin Garnett was out injured for the Celtics, but the Bulls' opening win after a 41-41 season would kick off one of the wildest playoff series in NBA history.

Boston's Ray Allen would score 30 points and his team the win in the Game 2 shootout with Ben Gordon, who scored 42 points. Allen made the winner in what was being called the best game of the season. Until the next few.

Gordon hit a late bank shot in regulation and the Bulls went on to win Game 4 in two overtimes. Game 5 went to the Celtics at home but not before what should have been a flagrant foul on Rajon Rondo on Brad Miller at the end of regulation with Miller bleeding and trying to make free throws. The Bulls lost 106-104 in overtime to set up a triple overtime spectacular Game 6 with Ray Allen's 51 points not enough in the United Center. The image of that series and the triple overtime Bulls win—seven overtime periods in the series and six in three games—was Noah taking the ball from Pierce and running down to slam to close out the third overtime. The Bulls didn't have much left for Game 7 and lost in Boston despite 33 from Gordon.

Then there was 2013 and an ailing and broken down Bulls team with Rose and Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng going out as the series progressed and turning to Nate Robinson and then Noah for the upset.

The Nets won the first game, but the Bulls stole home court advantage with a win in the second and then took a 2-1 lead back home. Then came the amazing Game 4, yet another triple overtime fest in which Robinson off the bench scored 34 points in just under 29 minutes. Robinson had a personal 12-0 run as part of 23 fourth quarter points after the Bulls trailed by 14 in one of the biggest scoring quarters in franchise history to get the Bulls to overtime. Finally, in the third overtime, Nazr Mohammed's four points were enough to carry the Bulls to victory and a 3-1 series lead. After playing 60 minutes in that game, Hinrich was done for the playoffs. Similarly, after the next game, which the Nets won back home, Deng was done for the series with an illness scare and hospitalization.

That left the Bulls facing a Game 7 back in Brooklyn after losing Game 6 at home without Hinrich and Deng and looking like no Joakim Noah in Game 7 with serious foot problems. But Noah came out with all the grit he had. The Nets were done. The Bulls spurted to a 17-point halftime lead over the stunned Nets as Noah played 41 minutes on his foot injury. He accumulated 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in rallying a team starting Robinson and the bench basically consisting of Mohammed, Marquis Teague and Daequan Cook. Jimmy Butler played all 48 minutes for the second straight game and would play all 48 minutes in three of the five games in the next round, which would start after one day off, in a five-game loss to the Miami Heat and LeBron James.

There were so many almosts and could have beens, and it started with what may have been. Krause had the right plan with a post up seven footer in Curry and what he projected as a perimeter seven footer in Chandler, though Chandler would evolve into the natural center. It just was the wrong guys given their ages. And at the wrong time with the wrong mix.

"I don't have any ill feelings toward the organization," says Chandler. "I still show John Paxson all the love in the world. I still respected him even when he traded me. It was a respectful situation and how he dealt with it and me. I feel like all of that had to happen. It was an organization in transition, and a young player trying to learn and find his way. If I could change anything it would have been for the organization to be more where they are now, seven or eight years down the road from me being drafted. That wasn't the case. I understand now looking back what I was walking into, but then I hadn't a clue."

"It was part of my growing up that made me respect the league that much more, respect winning that much more, made me respect the game that much more because I had been through those tough times in Chicago," says Chandler. "I understand the good from the bad, what you are supposed to do as a player and what you are not supposed to do as a player, a good coach and a bad coach, and I learned all those things and how to decipher those things and I learned a lot about myself in those times with the Bulls. I think it made me the player I became and I appreciate everything I went through when I was there.

"I never considered myself to be a victim," says Chandler. "I felt I was blessed to be in the league and playing the game I love. If you look at it now and I'm a GM, it's a learning curve. Now I see if you are going to draft a young player like that you need the right coach, the right coaches around him, the right players and the organization has to be ready and have a plan for the young man or else he'll have to figure it out himself and then you are rolling the dice. It was some dark days."

They got much brighter for the Bulls and Chandler and they both became better for their experiences. There always are better times to come.

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2000s and the Chicago Bulls

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Though you couldn’t help but escape the disappointment of losing in the first round of the playoffs, it was hardly the only emotion present as the Bulls held exit meetings at the Berto Center on Wednesday.

Pride in what the team accomplished in the face of adversity was equally, if not more prominent. There was a sense of optimism as well as the team enters into the offseason poised to improve itself.

“What we told our team was first of all that we’re really, really proud of everything that they put into this season, a trying season in a lot of ways,” said Bulls general manager Gar Forman. “The second thing is that we’re very, very proud that these guys have created a culture here and it’s a culture of winning, it’s a culture of professionalism, and it’s a culture where these guys all play together. We’ve got unselfish guys that have done a great job as teammates and playing for each other.”

With six straight postseason appearances and nine out of the last ten years, the Bulls have enjoyed sustained success. Now, Forman said the focus shifts with one question at the forefront: How do the Bulls get to the next level?

It’s Forman’s aim to take advantage of what he calls a “big summer” ahead to move another step in that direction.

“Obviously we’re going to try to strengthen our team and I think we’re going to be in a position where we can do that,” said Forman.

“We believe that the core of this group really has the chance to do something special moving forward,” Forman added. “It’s up to each and every one of us, from the players to the front office to the coaching staff and everybody involved in our organization, to try to improve and make the next step.”

“The core is good,” agreed Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “The core is in place. At this point, you’re going to evaluate everything. You have the draft, you have free agency, and you have trade possibilities. So we have good flexibility and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Chicago also has Derrick Rose, who is working his way back into form. Whereas Rose participated in some non-contact portions of practice at the end of the regular season, Forman indicated that he continues to progress.

“He’s really in a good place right now and he continues to train. He's starting to play one-on-one, two-on-two,” said Forman of Rose, who was at the Berto Center the morning after the Game 5 loss to work out. “So he'll continue to ramp it up. And if everything goes according to plan — which up to this point it has — we're optimistic that he'll play with Team USA this summer and have another good summer of work and be ready to go in October.”

Thibodeau stated that Rose would be in the area more this summer, working with the team leading up summer league (Rose is not expected to participate) and USA Basketball in July.

“You can't lose sight of Derrick being back,” said Thibodeau. “That changes a lot of things. … He's right on schedule. So this is the next phase now. The rehab part went well. The non-contact stuff went well. So now this is the next step, which is good.”

Thibodeau said he has no doubts about Rose returning to a high level of play.

“The thing is, he's had two unfortunate injuries,” Thibodeau said. “I think he's put a lot of work into his body. So we're optimistic that he's going to make a complete and full recovery.”

Beyond Rose, the Bulls also own a pair of first round draft picks this summer, Nos. 16 and 19. With the late round selections of Jimmy Butler (No. 30) and Taj Gibson (No. 26), Forman has demonstrated the ability to find talent in his five seasons as general manager.

While this year’s draft is regarded as a talented and deep, Forman is optimistic every year for what it represents.

“We like to approach it like every draft is a good draft and there's opportunities in every draft,” said Forman. “We've done an enormous amount of work, not only this year but the last several years, on guys that will be in this draft. We're optimistic we'll get two guys that will fit our team and fit our culture."

While the plan is for Rose to once again be Chicago’s starting point guard in the fall, it remains to be seen who will back him up. Both D.J. Augustin and Kirk Hinrich will be unrestricted free agents this summer.

“It’s still the same kind of feeling,” said Hinrich as he left the Berto Center on Wednesday. “We’re disappointed to go out the way we did. I guess reflecting back on it, you think about the season and all we went through. I enjoy playing with that group of guys.

“The goal when you enter a season, we had high expectations. You want to win a championship and do as well as you can,” Hinrich continued. “We valued the right things and played hard; we just didn’t get it done.”

Hinrich is now a veteran of 11 professional seasons, including nine with the Bulls.

“Take some time off and decompress,” Hinrich said of what’s next. “Reflect on the season and go from there.”

As for Augustin, who lives in Houston, Texas and will spend his offseason there, he looks forward to taking a few weeks off and spending time with his newborn son.

“The meetings were good. We had a chance to talk and look back on the season,” said Augustin. “They told me that they wanted me back. And I really want to be back so we'll see how everything works out.

“They gave me an opportunity, and I definitely owe them a lot,” Augustin added of the Bulls. “It's not always about the money. It's where you feel comfortable or where you fit in. I definitely want to be here, and hopefully everything works out.”

Forman expressed interest in having both players return, but noted it will take some time for the offseason to run its course. NBA free agency begins in July.

“D.J.'s a fit,” said Forman. “He's been a fit as far as his makeup and character, how he fit with our other guys, and I think his game is a fit because of his ability to create and to score. We're hopeful we'll be in a position that D.J. will consider coming back and that we're in a position to have him back.

“We value Kirk and Kirk's been a big part of what we've done over the last nine or 10 years,” added Forman. “So it would be our goal that we have Kirk back, also.”

Audio—Gar Forman talks with reporters about the offseason (04.30.2014):

Audio—Tom Thibodeau on decompressing and Derrick Rose’s summer (04.30.2014):

Audio—Kirk Hinrich on what’s next after 11 seasons in the NBA (04.30.2014):

Audio—D.J. Augustin on his status as an unrestricted free agent (04.30.2014):

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Prideful Bulls moving forward

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